the coolhunt

HumCore lecture got decidedly interesting as my professor assigned some reading about the coolhunt and then proceeded to discuss the fashion/photography/culture of the streets. Praise thee for relating this to Jane Jacobs in some distant way.

Basically I read some essays by Malcolm Gladwell and gathered the following about "cool":
1. It takes someone cool to recognize someone else who is cool.
2. You can't manufacture cool.
3. Once you call it cool, it is no longer cool.

Cool is a paradox.

It's interesting -- check out the flow of cool:
1. It starts with street culture. On the streets it's individual, original, unique.
2. Cool hunters find it, communicate the trend to the brands.
3. The brands mass produce the "cool" item/trend.
4. Trickles down to the mall-friendly masses.
At step 4, it ceases to be cool. Once step 1 reaches step 4, step 1 is already embracing something totally different.

Oh, and there are actual careers centered around cool hunting. Coolhunters run around on the streets finding out what kids think are in, then collaborate and create lists like the Hot Sheet and the L Report for companies that are trying to revive their cool...


...like Reebok.

Celebrity endorsements help too, I guess. I thought it was funny that I read this 1997 essay last night about how Reebok was trying to regain their cool, then I woke up and here is Leighton Meester endorsing Reebok in 2009, and I still don't see Reebok as cool, sorry. I guess there's only so much you can do.

So what is cool, really?
Personally, I find individuality cool. Dressing uniquely, living differently, thinking independently, and letting that all manifest itself upon your being as you strut out into the world for judgement and scrutiny without fear. Being cool is separating yourself from the masses. Living with inspiration and self-awareness and confidence. But that is just my opinion. Everyone wants to be cool, and everyone is different which is cool. Somehow still, most everyone is riding on the coattails of cool instead of being at the forefront of it. (So how do we get there?)

Something lacking in Irvine is culture. I thought about this as I walked around campus today; everyone pretty much dresses cookie cutter, and even if they dress differently than most people, it is still the same as other people. It kind of pains me, but it is okay because I have street fashion blogs to look at for my source of urban diversity. Still though, I would like to walk around and find someone's outfit utterly inspiring... but again, I am not contributing in any way to the culture of Irvine, because I have literally been living in my Hanes T's and AA jackets and Rainbows and all those other typical SoCal items.

This whole post was kind of a DUH. But I was extremely glad to be studying something of the now as opposed to those late great philosophers and opera composers. And how cool would it be to be a coolhunter? Legitimate.